3 Basketball Drills For Guards That Will Make You A Pro

A guard can be considered the most prominent player in a basketball match. With three main duties on their shoulders – ball-handling, shooting and playing defensive, guards need to make sure that they go through intensive training, to provide the backbone, their team expects from them. On the court, it is extremely important to handle, dribble and pass the ball and then act at once to be in a position to provide support to your teammate.

In most matches, we see a guard carrying out all these tasks, and taking their teams to glory. However, there are certain drills guards need to carry out, in order to polish their skills and understand the game. Here are few of them, which might be effective in your journey to becoming a basketball guard.

One-On-One Touch Drill

One of the most famous basketball guard drills is the One-On-One Touch Drill. In this drill, you need to have a partner with you. You need to start with standing on the wing, with your partner. One of you need to be on the offence and the other one needs to be on the defense. The offensive player needs to start the drill in a triple threat position.

On the other hand, the defensive player needs to start in a low defensive stance. In this drill, the ball is live whenever the defensive player touches it. The offensive player is given three dribbles to score a basket. After a play, both the players need to switch the position, regardless that the offensive player was stopped or scored a point.

You can carry on this drill up to 9 points, to ensure that each player gets the most out of it. To make the drill more challenging, use different floor positions or as a defensive player, start from under the basket.

Two-Man Game Drill

The two-man game drill helps you in learning, some of the most important tasks of a basketball guard – switching positions, exchanging the ball, improving your angles or how to drive between an open court. This drill is a four-man drill, in which there are 2 offensive players and 2 defensive players.

In this drill, you have to place the guard at least 3 feet above the key, and draw a free-throw line near the 3 pointer line for the wing players. Each point should be guarded with a wing player, with the wing player’s feet directly towards the hoop.

Then, the guard makes a move and tries to penetrate through the gap. The wing player either needs to cut off high and behind the guard as he comes charging in, or the wing plater makes a back-door cut towards the hoop, as the guard goes in for a lay-in. This drill will help the guard in maintaining the pick-and-go’s and other feels, which can help in rotating the ball around the court, in a real match.

Half Court Dribbling

The half court drill is made for a basketball guard, of every level and age. This drill mainly focuses on your precision, and how well you can dribble while looking up and reading the court. In this dribble, all the players dribble vigorously in the half court, while looking above.

During this, the players might even try different dribbling techniques such as between-the-legs, hesitation or the pullback dribble. The player is needed to go out several times while carrying out this drill. However, going out will be the main part of improving the dribbling skills of the player.

The drill can be carried out for as long as possible, for example, 30 to 90 seconds. Moreover, the options of the drill depend on the age of the guard and which level the player has achieved.

The Final Verdict

A guard needs to learn to make decisions, quicker than any other player on them a team. Act fast, pass or shoot and make a play is what a guard needs to do in order to make sure a pointer for your team. However, all these skills are almost unachievable, if you haven’t gone through the right type of training or drills. Hence, if you are passionate about becoming a successful basketball guard, go through these guard drills for as long as you play basketball!